Novelty in Biomedicine

Background:

The emergence and increase in the incidence of Extended-spectrum beta lactamase (ESBL) producing Escherichia coli has become an emerging challenge especially in hospitalized patients with UTI. The aim of the present study was to survey the frequency of bla CTX-M genotype in ESBL producing E. coli isolated from hospitalized patients with UTI and determination of their antibiotic resistance pattern.

Material and methods

A total of 135 E. coli isolates were collected from isolated from patients with UTI. The isolates were subjected to confirmatory phenotype tests for the presence of ESBL. 75 E. coli isolates were confirmed as ESBL-positive by means of the Double disc synergy test. In vitro susceptibility of ESBL isolates to 15 antimicrobial agents amoxicillin, penicillin, ceftazidime, cefotaxime, cefoxitin, ceftriaxone, cefixime, cephalexin, co-trimoxazole, gentamicin, nalidixic acid, ciprofloxacin, nitrofourantoin, amikacin and imipenem was performed by Kirby-Bauer’s Disk diffusion method according to Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI, 2012) guideline. PCR method was used to identify bla CTX-M gene in 75 ESBL positive strains.

Results:

PCR and sequence analysis showed that 75 (55.5%) isolates produced bla CTX-M genes. In vitro susceptibility of ESBL producing E. coli showed that all of them were resistant to amoxicillin and penicillin and The rates of resistance to the majority of tested antibiotics varied between 61% to 100 %, with the exception of amikacin (14.7%) and imipenem (2.7%). Our results showed that the frequency of bla CTX-M was strikingly high (93.3%).

Conclusion:

These data confirmed that the frequency of bla CTX-M genes were high among E. coli isolated from patients with UTI. The trend of multidrug-resistant profile has been associated with bla CTX-M gene is alarming. Therefore, it is very important to establish a routine screening of ESBL in clinical isolates to prevent dissemination of resistant isolates in health care settings.

Background: Serological assay based on dense granular (GRA) proteins of Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii) is actually the most popular laboratory diagnostic tool to detection of toxoplasmosis. We aimed to construct a recombinant GRA7-pTZ57RT plasmid vectors that it is suitable for sub-cloning and GRA7 protein production.

Materials and Methods: Souris mice were used for maintaining of T. gondii tachyzoites by serial intraperitoneal passage. The tachyzoites’ DNA was extracted, and the GRA7 gene was amplified by PCR. The purified DNA was inserted into pTZ57RT cloning vectors, and then transformed into TOP10 competent cells. Finally, cloning and transformation were confirmed by restriction enzymatic digestion and gene sequencing.

Results: Agarose gel electrophoresis analysis on PCR products of genomic DNA, revealed 726 bp bands that were equal to the GRA7 gene. Both white (recombinant) and blue (non-recombinant) colonies appeared on ampicillin-LB agar. Results of enzymatic digestion and gene sequencing confirmed successful cloning and transformation procedures.

Conclusion: The GRA7 gene of T. gondii was cloned into pTZ57RT plasmid, which is suggested to be further used as DNA vaccine or sub-cloned for production of recombinant GRA7 protein.

Background: Parkinson's disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disorder impairing motor, verbal and other abilities. Visual evoked potential (VEP) assessment is a useful method for analysis of visual system and its function. The present study was designed in order to evaluate whether VEP changes are associated with PD.

Materials and Methods: In the present study, 100 subjects encompassing 40 patients with Idiopathic Parkinson’s Disease (Idiopathic PD) and 60 aged-matched controls were selected and assigned into case and control groups, respectively. VEP analysis was conducted in either group and the results were compared.

Results: In the present study, 16 patients (40%) showed prolonged P100 latency. P100 latency in the case group was significantly longer than in controls. P100 Amplitude was significantly higher in case group than control. There were no significant association between prolonged VEP and sex and diseases duration, in the participants. Also from our participants who suffer from visual hallucination, P100 latency was significantly longer than in the controls.  There was a significant association between prolonged P100 latency and severity of disease in the case group.

Conclusion: We suggest that prolonged VEP latencies and amplitude are associated with PD and might be associated with a predisposition for visual hallucinations.

Background: The purpose of this study was to assess the dental arch dimensions in primary dentition of 3-5 years old Filipino children and determining the existence of sexual dimorphism.

Materials and Methods: In this descriptive study, 60 Filipino preschool children aged 3-5 years old were selected from Manila city. Study casts were used for measurements of 3 arch dimensions: bicanine width, bimolar width, and arch length. The analyses were performed to compare values within age-groups and within gender-groups, besides reporting mean and standard deviations. The data were subjected to One-way ANOVA and Student t-test.

Results: Significant differences were observed regarding dental arch dimensions among different ages and genders (p<0.05). Comparison between genders showed a statistically significant difference in bicanine width at the age of 4 (p=0.04), in bimolar width at age of 5 (p=0.006), and in arch length at age of 4 (p=0.03) and 5 (p=0.02). Differences within male group for different ages showed only arch length dimension was statistically significant (p=0.021). In females, however the comparison between age-groups also revealed a statistically significant difference in bicanine (p= 0.016) and bimolar widths (p=0.027) dimensions.

Conclusion: The present study showed that dental arch dimensions, vary among different ages and genders of children. It also showed that a sexual dimorphism does exist between the gender groups.

Background: Diabetic patients have a higher prevalence of non-dipping pattern in blood pressure (BP) than general population. Non-dipping arterial pressure pattern is associated with increased cardiovascular risk. The objective of this study was to investigate the association between the clinical and paraclinical characteristics of the diabetic patients with circadian BP variability.

Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study included 114 diabetic patients (more than 18 years old) recruited by consecutive sampling. The patients were divided into two groups according to the results of systolic blood pressure dipping from day to night.

Results: Mean age was 58.3±9.6 years; and 63% of the study population was male. Also, 80.7%, 78.1%, and 78.9% of the patients had non-dipper patterns in systolic, diastolic, and mean BP respectively. The dipping pattern did not have any significant association with baseline or clinical characteristics of the patients (p>0.05).

Conclusion: The characteristics of the patients do not assist finding diabetic persons who are more likely to have non-dipping arterial pressure pattern. As such, ABPM is an essential tool for proper risk stratification in diabetic patients.

Background: Children and adolescent smoking is one of the most important health problems in the world. There is a major concern that child labor may generate a pseudo maturity syndrome, including smoking.The current survey focus on smoking behavior, knowledge and attitude of child labor are working in Tehran.

Materials and Methods: The study adopted a cross-sectional design, based on a primary pilot descriptive cross sectional study, using GYTS self-administered questionnaire. 816 child labor, which were student of work labor schools or worked as child labor on Tehran parks and crossing roads, were randomly selected using multi stage cluster sampling. DATA analyzed using SPSS v.22 (IBM statistic) software and chi square test to compare the frequency of variables in different groups.

Results: 50.6% of our participants were boy and child laboring age varied from 11 to 17 years old. 18.6% of child labor had smoking experience (Confident Interval 95%=17.3-20.1). 9.8% of them were current smoker (CI 95%=8.6-10.9) and 1.2% were current regular smoker (CI 95%=0.9-2.1). Child labor smoking hazard knowledge was evaluated by considering the minimum and maximum score of 10 to 30. Results demonstrated that the mean score of knowledge, attitude and behavior were 17.1±6.2, 36.5±16.1 (range 15-45) and 46.1±3.0 (range 25-75), respectively.

Conclusion: Considering to our findings, planning tobacco control program for these specific groups is required, aiming at preventing cigarette smoking by increasing the knowledge and correcting their attitude.